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Chris Seeger, a leading plaintiffs' lawyer and one of the chief architects of the Vioxx settlement, will deliver a lecture entitled "The Vioxx Story: Mass Settlement Without Class Actions" on March 11, 2008, 6:30 p.m. at Cardozo Law School in New York. The program will be moderated by Cardozo Professor Tony Sebok and will include commentary from Kathleen O'Connor of Dechert and from Howard Erichson (me).

For those who wish to understand mass tort litigation, Vioxx is the most important tale to grapple with since fen-phen. It's a story of mass collective representation, parallel state and federal litigation, multiple categories of claims, class cert denials, rejection of large-scale trial consolidation, informal bellwether trials, widely varying trial outcomes, a classic turnabout in defense strategy from vigorous litigaton to comprehensive resolution, and a sophisticated but not problem-free mass aggregate settlement. It's pretty much everything that's right and wrong with mass tort litigation today. I'm looking forward to the event.

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Comments

GOOD NEWS for VIOXX victims! The VIOXX Plaintiff Education Group (VPEG) is alive and doing well! It now has 300 members, and we are really learning and helping each other. VPEG, has picked itself up by its own two feet, and accepted the task of informing and education sharing. Since, as VPEG has more than learned, most of its members counsel have not, could not, or wished not to help the average VPEG member with the needed information - the need to do was there, and VPEG tries to help fill the void of some questionable atty-client relationships (i.e. the “settlement: has caused much strain there…) The average VPEG member (vIOXX Plaintiff and victim) is now, finally “learning the score, on a whole range of items"
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The vIOXX Plaintiff Education Group is a blog of almost 300 vIOXX victims who are Plaintiffs - with much to care and share over. It works hard to provide much information and education versus sharing. It also has several items, involving working "the issues" which suggest some active goals. The members are all respective of each other. You will find a great of sympathetic vIOXX victims that are the same boat as the average vIOXX litigant.
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VPEG has built a reputable infrastructure to share information, help educate each other, document retention, member communications, polling, holding important information to share, providing very useful links, and MORE! VPEG is the result of a very urgent need to get this infrastructure up and running in such a short time. So, so many vIOXX victims should learn what the average VPEG member has had the opportunity too.
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Feel free to check it out and join, nothing ventured, nothing gained. VPEG welcomes vIOXX victims that just wish information, wish to share, with to act, etc. - all are very welcome!
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The link is:
…. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MerckSettlement/
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Sincerely
Dennis Harrison – badbonehealing@hvc.rr.com
M.B.A. - BGS
Catskill, NY
Vioxx Plaintiff

p.s. - I am a Plaintiff, with a lawsuit of (alleged) bone and spine healing problems. Though not MI/heart - I have learned very, very, much from VPEG. We share our thoughts, and we look for the synergies between the injuries, let alone that we can't but help see similarities (alleged) with FOSAMAX, Vytorin, (potentially the ill fated ARCOXCIA (Vioxx by any other name?), Giardasil, …. can't help but notice the continuing array of problematic Merck "Products" and the cycles and patterns, as well as common items of our own 'DISCOVERY"...

the settlement is a joke, but it was set forth so everyone was extorted into signing there live away...the steering commitee should be jailed

Posted by: victim# 47,987 | Mar 2, 2008 11:37:41 AM

How could the PSC look at themselves in the mirror. It is more than obvious, and is fact, in the record, that the PSC has plain LIED to Judge Fallon. He demanded that the PSC make sure that each of the attorney's clients were being sat down with and gone over the "settlement" - and that meant all of them. What did they get - "take it or leave it", SCORN by their own lawyers, "I'll drop you if you don't sign"....and it goes on, and on. Judge Fallon would be very angry if he understood that the PSC has been, implicitly misleading and lying to him. Judge Fallon is a good man, I can't say the same for the PSC - who perperuated their fear mongering form letter and methods down the line to line up the attorneys to brow beat and pummel their clients into existence.

The attorney-client relationship has been shattered and trampled upon, and someone needs to tell Judge Fallon, as it is his responsibility, and I do know that he would want to preserve the rights of litigants to be properly be represented by their "attorney's" who have (except for a few - done anything but that).

We all know what the PSC is perpetuating, Russ Herman said it when he said the Plaintiff Bar may have to look at a whole new way....Russ - who did you represent, the litigants or Merck.

There is very serious collusion between the PSC and Merck, worsened by the trampled upon attorney-client relationships, which the PSC damn well knows about.

Posted by: Dennis Harrison | Mar 9, 2008 10:57:57 PM

What is not being disclosed by the legal-eagle firms that represented the plaintiffs in the Vioxx Settlement may loose the shirts off their backs.

Take the $100,000.00 settlement and 35% goes to the attorney. $35,000.00

Insurance Reimbursment of say $40,000.00.

Expenses $10,000.00 including the firm to negotiate settlement of insurance claims.

$85,000.00 in overall expenses, $15,00.00 for the claimant. Not bad for both parties.

Hold Up!, Hold Up!

What is not being disclosed to the claimant is his/her tax liability on the total settlement amount of $100,000.00.

Federal tax could run as high as 28%, chip in 10% or more for the state income tax, to be on the safe side we can round off at 40% or $40,000.00 and the claimant is now in the hole by $25,000.00

Murphey vs. IRS

One clause could have prevented income taxes being paid up front.

"Medical Damages w/o Liability."

Full disclosure has not been given to the claimants and the claimant's interest came last.

Now if we can bring legal action against the Chris and Mark, the B-Allens and etc. we will not have to worry about having our medical insurance being deducted from our settlement amount, we all suffered from a medical standpoint, no up front taxes and we may have a good class action suit in the making.